forces in the following themes were constituted: 
(1) Forestry (2) Agriculture (3) Water Resources 
(4) Urban and Regional Planning (5) Geology and 
Mineral Resources (6) Ocean Resources (7) Soils 
and Landuse (8) Cartography. 
The task forces constituted have clearly 
addressed the conventional sources of 
information and the applicability of remote 
sensing highlighting relative advantages of 
satellite data either singly or in conjunction 
with conventional data. The infrastructure 
requirements, which the potential departments/ 
organisations need to have while adopting remote 
sensing technology and the associated trained 
manpower requirements for sustained use of 
remote sensing technology in India have also 
been addressed by the task forces. 
By the year 1985 all the task forces have 
finalised the recommendation on the utilization 
of remote sensing. In order to follow the 
recommendations of the task forces various 
standing committees have been constituted in the 
areas of (1) Agriculture (2) Bio-resources and 
Environment (3) Water Resources (4) Ocean 
Resources (5) Geology (6) Technology and 
Training. All these Standing Committees consist 
of senior official of the relevant user 
departments as members. The departments 
undertakes various resource application projects 
using remote sensing techniques and are 
periodically reviewed by the concerned chairman 
of the Standing Committees. The progress made 
on the projects undertaken as part of the 
Standing Committees are conceived as Remote 
Sensing Application Mission (RSAM) projects with 
clearly defined time targets and goals. 
The peer evaluation of the progress of 
committees and policy matters related to remote 
sesning applications in India is directed by a 
senior level committee called Planning Committee 
on NNRMS (PC-NNRMS) consisting of Secretary's of 
all the user departments as members. The PC- 
NNRMS is headed by a senior level Scientist/ 
Minister of State rank who inturn is responsible 
for providing the guidelines for the overall 
implementation of National Natural Resource 
Management System in the country under the aegis 
of Department of Space, Government of India. 
standing 
NNRMS AND INFRASTRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS 
The implementation of NNRMS in 
for extensive infrastructure 
effective promotion of remote 
The various areas where the 
development was necessiated are : 
the country calls 
development for 
sensing in India. 
infrastructural 
1. Ground segment: The satellite data reception 
facilities for Landsat MSS/TM, NOAA AVHRR 9 
& 11, IRS 1A/1B and for ERS-1 data coupled 
with Telemetry, Tracking and Command support for 
satellite control operations. The organised 
data reception for all the multiple 
Satellites and the associated data 
processing facilities involving pre-processing 
280 
of High Density Digital Tapes (HDDTs) into 
Computer Compatable Tapes (CCTs) on a user 
friendly format. 
2, Space segment: The indigenous requirement 
and suitability of specific spectral band widths 
associated with spatial resolution are the 
basic requirements for development of 
indigenous capability in design and development 
of imaging sensors onboard IRS-1A/1B. 
Consequent to the extensive end to end 
experiments carried out with the collaborative 
studies with the user departments narrowed down 
the immediate requirements on the suitability of 
a spectral band width and the associated 
spatial resolution of the sensors. These 
requirements have been specific to Indian 
conditions. Realising the necessity and 
importance a self reliant indigenous system 
IRS-1A and IRS-IB which are 
orbit providing data for the entire nation in 
two spatial resolutions one on 73 metres (LISS 
I) and other with 36 metre (LISS II). The 
combined orbital coverage is of 10 to 11 
days interval. The increased Scope for 
obtaining cloud free data for any given season 
with the indigenous Indian Remote Sensing 
satellite data enhanced the utilization of 
satellite data for routine applications of 
resources inventory and monitoring by 
various user departments benefiting the nation 
to a great extent. 
presently in 
The availability of NOAA AVHRR data and  LANDSAT 
TM providing as additional satellite sources 
for specific land and ocean resources 
applications in an operational way. 
3. User 
promotion of remote 
Interface: The developments and 
sensing activities in 
India are widely documented and 
disseminated to all the users through NNRMS 
bulletins, Interface (brought out by NRSA), 
SAC courier and Photonirvachak (the only 
national journal devoted on remote 
sensing). In addition theme specific regional 
workshops organised both at national and 
regional levels ensure the total updating 
on the happenings of remote sensing data 
utilization. Specific examples to this are on 
organisation of state level workshops on 
the utilization of wasteland maps generated 
using remote sensing data and also the workshop 
on ground water potential zone maps at district 
levels. Over and above users have been provided 
an easy access on the information through 
NRSA Data Centre (NDC) facility located at NRSA, 
Hyderabad. 
4. Facilities: In order to cater to the 
requirement of satellite data utilization 
and various levels the establishment State 
level Remote Sensing Applications Centres 
(SRACs), Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres 
(RRSSCs) with Digital Image Processing 
facilities configured around VAX 11/780 are 
meeting the requirements for the entire nation 
amply supported and guided by the major 
organisations like National Remote Sensing 
Agency, Hyderabad and Space Applications Centre, 
Ahmedabad. In addition considering the enormous 
work load on the use of remote sensing data, few